--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - William A. Hyde collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 6 published: 1921-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'William A. Hyde, "The Gospel and Emerson," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 6 (April 1921): 469–481.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2406unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2406unse start_page: 469 end_page: 481 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2406unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Gospel and Emerson — — Improvement Era Vol. XXIV APRIL, 1921 No, 6 The Gospel and Emerson By William A. Hyde, President Pocatello Stake of Zion A little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion. Bacon. Philosophy will clip an angel's wings. Keats. have just come from the reading of Emerson's essay on I "Compensation," with the exaltation of one who has enjoyed the bracing and enlivening breeze from an intellectual ocean. Much of his discussion, like the more subdued tones of a great harmony, is but half audible to me; much of it appeals to me as an inspired interpretation of fundamental truths, and sometimes I see that our author is standing in the presence of some great fact of life, the end or significance of which, even his acute mind, from the angle of his observation has not fully sensed. It may appear little short of desecration of art, even sacrilegious for me, to attempt in any way to amplify or criticise what he has said; my only regret is that our philosopher could not have exhaustively pursued his subject in the light of the sacred Word. Were the author of law considered in his relation to law, it seems to me that Emerson need not have said that "life is ahead of theology on this subject;" and, with his horizon thus enlarged, this essay, by this master, might have been rounded into something more than a masterpiece, it might — have had the quality of scripture. With that thought only, in mind, and with no unwarranted egotism, from the progress so far gained, I shall, if I may, pursue the subject by the additional light of God's revelations. «2 Cor. 4:4; John 7:16. 470 IMPROVEMENT ERA The motive of this great philosophical dissertation lies in the opposition to the popular sectarian doctrine of Rewards and Punishments. Said Emerson: What did the preacher mean by saying that the good are miserable in the present life? Was it that houses and lands, offices, wine, horses, dress, luxury, are held by unprincipled men, whilst the saints and poor are despised; and that a compensation is to be made to these last, hereafter, by giving them the like gratification another day,— bank stock and doubloons, venison and champagne? This must be the compensation intended, for what else? Is it that they are to have leave to pray and praise? To love and serve men? Why, that they can do now. * * * The fallacy lay in the immense concession that the bad are successful; that justice is not done now. The blindness of the preacher consisted in deferring to the base estimate of the market of what constitutes a manly success, instead of confronting and convicting the world from the truth; announcing the presence of the Soul; the omnipotence of the Will; and so establishing the standard of good and ill, of success and falsehood, and summoning the dead to its present tribunal. The abstract of Emerson's doctrine, stated in some of the "high lights" of his essay, is that we falsely "assume that justice is not executed in this world;" that "appearances indicate the fact that the universe is represented in every one of its particles * * * everything is made of one hidden stuff; * * * that "the doctrine of omnipresence is that God reappears in all his parts in every moss and cobweb;" that "all things are moral. That soul, which within us is sentiment, outside of us is law. * * * It is almighty. * * * It is eternal but it enacts itself in time and space;" that "every secret is told, every crime punished, every virtue rewarded, every wrong redressed in silence and certainty;" that "men call the circumstance the retribution. The casual retribution is the thing and is seen by the soul. * * * The specific stripes may follow late after the offense, but they follow because they accompany it;" that "we aim for a petty end quite aside from the public good, but our act arranges itself by irresistible magnetism with the poles of the world;" that "you cannot do wrong without suffering wrong;" that "all infractions of love and equity in our social relations are speedily punished. They are punished by fear. Fear is an instructor of great sagacity and the herald of all revolutions;" that "the law of nature is to do the thing and you * * * shall have the power;" that "disasters of all kinds, prove benefactors;" that "the good are defended even by weakness and defect. * * * Every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults. * * * Every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor;" that "man's life is a progress and not a station. His instinct is trust;" that "we feel defrauded of the retribution due to evil acts because the criminal adheres to his vice and contumacy and does not come to a crisis or judgment " THE GOSPEL AND EMERSON 471 anywhere in visible nature. There is no stunning confutation of his nonsense before men and angels. Has he therefore outwitted the law? Inasmuch as he carries the malignity and the lie with him he so far decreases from nature. In some manner there will be a demonstration of the wrong to the understanding also; but, should we not see it, this deadly deduction makes square the eternal account;" that "there is therefore no tax on the good of virtue, for this is the incoming of God himself, or absolute existence without any comparative * * * I learn the wisdom of Saint Bernard, 'nothing can work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry about with me, and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault.' The tenor of this reasoning has this fault, common to all uninspired writing, that it is not unmixed truth. This great thinker recognizes our relationship to some greater thing outside us, and he has followed his "bright intuitions" into the depths, and mounted with them upon the heights. Lesser minds, unable to grasp the great truths he has seen have used them for the foundation of the false notion that man is responsible only — to himself in and of himself is his own reward and his own punishment. These small philosophers who flutter just above the earth and beyond the reach of men, yet immeasurably distant from God, become a danger when they deal with the truths of heaven. The great thought of compensation is near to the center of — theology, it has to do with God as well as with his children. Admittedly it has its bearing upon the end of life, it had its effect upon 6 the beginning. The preacher and Emerson are — both right, the preacher because' he asserts that God had to do with compensation; and Emerson, because he asserts that man has to do with it. The preacher did not exclude man, and Emerson did not specifically exclude God, though he neglected him. These supplemental thoughts which follow, and which are appurtenant to compensation, I find written and advocated in some form in scripture. Compensation is but the result of the working of numerous laws. It has two elements, — reward the positive, and punishment, or its equivalent, the negative. The balancing of these constitutes justice, which is the conclusion of law, the energy and life of it. This is the thing that Emerson has depicted from the philosopher's point of vision. Truth in principle, in act, and in substance, is all that is enduringc in life. That part of truth which relates to action is law. Law knows no bounds of earth, it pervades the universe, &John 3:16; Doc. and Cov. 132:5; Heb. 11:3. ^Matt. 24:35; John 1:1; Matt. 7:24-25; Doc. and Cov. 88:34. 472 IMPROVEMENT ERA and has its foundation in the bosom of God. It is his will. The rule that governs my act of tenderness to a fledgling is as much a part of it as the law of the freedom of man's mind. Neither extreme can be violated with impunity, and elementally there is no difference in them. One thing that must awe our hearts profoundly, is the fact of the immeasurable energy of the Divine will. Does it have its origin in the command of this day, this hour, this minute? No, rather it is the operation of a force — self existent in quality, which prescribes at once every act and motion^ of life or sunstance. The orbs of heaven keep their course by it, the wild rose opens its petals by it, it flows forth from Omnipotence as from a supernal spring. Whether adapted to the limited intelligence of a Hottentot, or to the complex civilized mind, there is no difference in its virtue, the only difference is in its fulness. This energy applies the rules of intelligence to all creations of life. As there can be no action without energy, there can be no law without power. Neither can there be power without truth. "Might is right" is a notorious statement, rejected by us as an unworthy political principle in these days, but true nevertheless in its last analysis, for Omnipotence is ultimate right because operating by the justice of God. The temporary eruptions, by which men and principles come to a brief "place in the sun," are merely muscular spasms of social and political bodies. The very spasm enfeebles, and death to the man or order must follow at last. Not so with fundamental might, it ever will be right. The ability in the mind of man which enables him to recognize truth, is intelligence. That puts^ the light in the man's eye, the halo upon his forehead, the authority in his voice. In proportion as it is pure and undefiled it will glorify him. It illuminates the spirit of the man and shines forth upon the world. What nobler conception is there of God than this that — he has come to his place of might because he knows the truth. We cannot conceive of truth being created. It is the standard which runs upright through eternity^ and time, and which governs not only this earth's orbit, but the orbit of the heaven of heavens. It is the center of spiritual gravitation. We note in our observation of things which surround us, that there is an orderliness in all the physical movements of the — universe, not that the earth moves upon command, or that winter comes at some behest, but rather that these are the re- rfjob 38:1-41; 39:1-30; Doc. and Cov. 76:13, 76. ?Doc. and Cov. 10: 70; 84:45; 93:29-36; I John 1:5; Matt. 16:17, 18; I Cor. 2:14; 1:21. /Doc. and Cov. 88:65; 93:24. THE GOSPEL AND EMERSON 473 suit of a plan that requires such movement. Conditions being thus in the physical world, may they not be so in the spiritual, also? There can be no order without power to hold, to loose, to restrain, to direct. Apart from the unconscious stands the conscious where play the forces of principal^ intelligence. Here operate the spiritual laws which govern the conscious life as certainly as the sun is governed by physical law, but differing in this, that here truth is dealing with initative and will, instead of with matter and space. There could be no law of obedience without the law of liberty. Obedience is voluntary conformity to law, and these two free agency and obedience, opposed yet harmonious, lie at the foundation of God's government. Our philosopher's thought that every fault, every injustice, must ultimately in some way be remedied, is true. Not only is it true that "every secret is told, every crime punished, every virtue rewarded, every wrong redressed in silence and in certainty," but it is true also that man cannot disobey the demands of truth unless he assume the obligation to sometime pay the debt thereby contracted. That rule has a broader reach than the superficial theories that deal with our bodies and our mortal lives merely, it enters into our final relations' with God; those 1 relations, the result of a divine plan originated in man's behalf. There is no authority except in truth, there is no power of law except in authority. Herein lies the basis of that plan to save, and it will be found that in all the laws that govern the individual, there will be a perfect compensation, a perfect balance, If a man have liberty, he must obey. If a man would have, he must give. If there be a stern-faced justice presiding, yet is she influenced by that gentler deity, love. If a man have this world exclusively, he "loses the next estate," and so on. There 1 is, then, in life, the conflict of the two principles, opposed, yet necessary, for man's development; and man must despair but for some way to reconcile these laws. If there are higher laws than those we see in action around us daily, they have never been made known to us; for myself, I cannot believe that there are higher laws than Faith, Obedience, Justice, and Mercy, for by them, Omnipotence can act with full scope, but there must needs be a medium by which man may obtain the benefit that comes from them. There can be no results from a law but through the lawgiver. The law, as written upon the page of a book, is dead, except for the authority which stands behind it. The law is the word, there is one who speaks. There must be some master principle that connects us with the infinite powers. Such we must conclude to be the law of' Faith, for by it we lay sjohn 1:1; Doc. and Cov. 76:13. «2 Nephi 2:10, 11, 12, 16, 26, 27. I'ha. 28:17; Matt. 16:27; Romans 2:3-10. *"Matt. 10:39; 2 Nephi 24. 474 IMPROVEMENT ERA hold of things otherwise beyond our reach. The mind acts by reason, the spirit acts by faith, the confidence the spirit has in the Master^ Spirit. Outside of faith, what evidence have we of the existence of God? Age old traditions, recorded statements of credible men, and evidence of the operation of super- human powers. These, good though they may be, are intellectual proofs merely, and may by the intellect be disputed. By faith, the medium between God and man, we are enabled to grasp' the things of God, for the circuit of divine truth is established in us. By the Spirit of Truth, we obtain a spiritual knowledge"' of God. Did Emerson sense this fact, when he said, "our instinct is trust"? When by faith we begin to know the things" of God, there begins then, the operation of the counter law; our knowledge of God makes us responsible to him. There follows the law of Justice. His love for us brings grace to us under the law of Mercy; we become debtor to him, and there follows the law of Obedience. Thus, in the chain of laws, is one link dependent upon the others, and "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." If one is broken the whole law is broken. If I obey not, having understanding, then shall I not have mercy for the laws are balanced, and Justice now stands guard. If I obey, then have I grace, the love of God, and faith to obtain. Thus, to man's free agency there comes the counter law of obedience. Free, yet restrained. "Take my yoke^ upon you," said God, "and you shall have rest unto your souls." Man is free by Divine fiat, but in servitude to correct principle by Divine law. In the great exchange of this life for future life, we 9 barter obedience for everything that we have. Against each avenue that leads to treasures, a mighty sentinel stands guard. Would you be strong? obey the law of temperance. Would you be learned? give study and thought. Would you be wealthy? obey the law of thrift. Would you be spiritually minded? then tender purity of heart. So every man is bound by innumerable cords, and he finds at last, that liberty is obedience to righteous law, and that by this very restraint does he enter into possession of all things. All men, whether they know it or not, are so governed, but by some this priceless formula is put to base uses. The carnal man gives his finer' self, all that can live of him, for gold. The ambitious man barters his conscience, the elemental in him, for power. The libertine gives all but a worm-eaten husk, for pleasure. The things that these men purchase perish /John 5:24; James 2:18; John 3:36. ^Romans 8:16. 'I Cor. 2:10. "'John 15:26. "Rom. 1:17. "James 2:10. /-Matt. 11:29; 2 Nephi 2:26. tfDoc. and Cov. 130:21; 88:40. 'Gal. 5:19-21. THE GOSPEL AND EMERSON 475 with them, and they give in exchange the only enduring* things that they possess. Truly, we buy and sell, and everything that we have has its price attached. Supremely provident and happy that man, who, by the application of the commerce between God and man, purchases eternal' things, the compensation not found in this life. Christ exemplified the principle. He bought us with a price, that price, his life. There was no other way, and so he said as a guiding" rule for us, "He who will not give father and mother and life itself for my sake, is not worthy of me." He offered the wealth of eternity, all that he had, to the rich youngw man for all that he had. Eternal life is not cheap. We purchase it by the fiery elimination of the dross,w the carnal, the selfish, within us, until we become as incorruptible metal. By what matchless mercy has God given to us the means by which we may, by obedience to the higher law, mitigate the action of the lower! Thus men triumph over earthly things. In the ebb and flow of the tides between joy and sorrow, defeat and victory, life and death, we find the well poised soul* resting always in the master law of faith. So long as he believes, what matters it what shall happen, for nothing can happen to him that is not eventually right. If he does not so believe, he does not understand God's law; knowing it, he may, if he will, lay hold upon the promise. God is the giver of life. By what magic did he breathe into our nostrils that we became living souls? By the application of the knowledge of the law of life, merely. The breaking of the law is sin, it is death. The living of the law is life. Then may we lay hold upon life, if we will. He who brought Lazarus forth may bring us forth. "I am the resurrection and the life," said the Christ. He had life? in himself. Life with him is a matter of will, for by obedience to the Father he has transcended the conditions of death. So shall we transcend 3 death, when we become perfect in obedience, even as he. Our philosopher has beautifully said that "all things are moral, that soul, which within us is sentiment, outside of us is * * * It is eternal but it law. * * * It is almighty, enacts itself in time and space." By this, he argues a universality of law, from the written word, and God said, to that "sentiment" that lies in the mind of man, or those "bright intuitions in which truth is sometimes revealed to us." Truth within us and outside of us is of one common origin. Outside of us, the whole ; within us, the part. Intuitions are but sparks *Eph. 5:3-6. 'Matt. 6:20. "Luke 14:26; I Cor. 6:20. ^Luke 18:22. wZech. 13:9. *Rom. 2:7; Doc. and Cov. 90:24; 19:38. :vRev. 1:18; John 11:25, 26. *Heb. 5:8, 9. 476 IMPROVEMENT ERA that fly from the friction of our experiences, when the individual spirit makes contact with universal light and intelligence. Who shall say that herein we have not an intimation of the application of those mysterious energies, which in their coarser forms we designate as electrical, but which in their finer forms may be God's medium with the earth. We are justified in indulging in such speculations, and if we grant them to be true, we should draw from them, not the false concept, that all physical things are unreal, but rather the conclusion that all physical and material things shall become spiritual, when we have entered into our ultimate relationship with the author of our lives. "All things are moral." We agree that all things that God has made are right, that they conform and lend themselves to basic law, and are therefore moral; and who will deny that the "sentiments," or better said, the instincts within us, are the echoes of the outward law responding in our puny souls? If Emerson could have lived today, would he have said, "the true doctrine of Omnipotence is that God reappears with all his parts in every moss and cobweb?" In view of the knowledge of today, is it necessary for us to accept this explanation of the most stupendous and perhaps most vital doctrine of theology? Rather may we not accept this theory, which seems to be nearer and nearer to a patent fact every day of our advancement in science, that God is omnipresent, not personally, but by means of that controlling power 8 that flows from the Divine Presence? that through that fact, there is always compensation, because God is always there, because the end appears even at the beginning; because the "whole appears wherever a part appears, and in justice the evil act cannot disassociate itself from its punishment." Thus our acts "arrange themselves by irresistible magnetism with the poles of the world," or, as I have heretofore expressed it, the standards of truth. In these infractions of ours, which are compensated by some lessening of our moral stature or quality, has there been no one offended but our own better selves? If we murder, the hangman will lay hold upon us; if we steal, the sheriff will surely have us in custody; but is no one else offended by those acts whereby we break the spiritual law? Our philosopher has answered this for us, though unsatisfactorily. Said he: "We feel defrauded of the retribution due to evil acts, because the criminal adheres to his vice and contumacy, and does not come to a crisis or judgment anywhere in visible nature. There is no stunning confutation of his nonsense before men and angels. Has he therefore outwitted the law? Inasmuch as he carries the "Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; Psalms 104:30; Doc. and Cov. 29:30, 31. s THE GOSPEL AND EMERSON 477 malignity and the lie with him, he so far decreases from nature. In some manner there will be a demonstration of the wrong to the understanding also; but should we not see it, this deadly deduction makes square the eternal account." According to this reasoning, outside of those penalties inflicted by the officers of the civil law, every man has his punishment; and, per contra, by the same reasoning, his reward in and of and by himself alone. This eliminates in one huge generalization a great part of the fabric of theology. These things, the gospel holds to be true, that when we break a law, we do two things, we hurt ourselves, for there is a weakening of our spiritual fiber, and we offend the law. We have sinned against the order and dignity of heaven. We correct the weakness of the soul by the living of the law of life until we are healed and restored, and we remove the "malignity" by confession, 6 and these two, form repentance, and without that, no man shall come forth sound in spirit and in body. Until that time, the "malignity" and condemnation following shall claim him. On some logical ends of his subject Emerson did not essay to speak; indeed, he seemed to shun some intimations and instructions of scripture as not being necessary to his argument. The ignoble and sensual, in his opinion, pay the price here and now, though triumphing and laughing up to the grave's brink. What is to be the continuation of the compensation of those who live the law, we are left to conceive but dimly. Is it, as our philosopher says, "leave to pray and praise," or hereafter to have "bank stock and doubloons, venison and champagne?" Shall we ignore or spiritualize out of practical meaning the saying of the Master: "Blessed c are the meek for they shall inherit the earth?" May it not be true as the preacher affirmed, that ultimate judgment is not executed in this world, but that there may be at some time a division of a spiritualized and redeemed earth to those eligible under the promise? "In my Father' d house are many mansions," also said the Master; and added, as if to rebuke in advance those who might ques- tion the literalness of what he said, "If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you." So one who looks for rewards hereafter does not necessarily admit that he expects them in the form of champagne, gold, bank stocks or venison, but rather in the things that comport with the char- acter that he presents at the bar; nor would such, in receiving the reward, have revenge on those who had run the gamut of illicit mortal success. Moreover, God has to certain splendid souls, from time to time, given his riches of eternity, fore- b\ John 1:8, 9; Psalms 32:5; 38:18; Mosiah 26:29, 30; Ezek. 33:14-16; Luke 13:4, 5. ^Matt. 5:5. <*John 14:2. 478 IMPROVEMENT ERA shadowing here, amid the dross of mortality, the fine currency 7 of the eternities. By these riches some men have, by command, straightened crooked limbs, and blind men have come to sight. By it, the past and future have been opened up until there has been no horizon to the illuminated mind. By it, all tongues have been made one, and expression and understanding com- mon. The scales have been taken from the mind and eye, and men and women have become momentarily immortalized, all by those gifts of God that man could see, and feel, and hear. How paltry are doubloons and champagne to this! Our preacher, or our philosopher, may not "summon the dead to their final tribunal;"^ there are some transgressions that go to a higher bar/ unjudged of the world. This, however, may be found to be true, that man finds his retribution in the quality of the spirit that now goes into eternity. So the doctrine of compensation, obverse and reverse, or positive and negative, is necessarily broader than these generations of ours, and he who argues it must argue our future life. If this universal law of compensation still has hold of men, those who go with unsettled accounts into the future, but change the hour and method of accounting. The libertine has left his body to the worms; the king's crown has rusted on his bare skull, but they must pay their debts nevertheless. Those simple-minded, straight-speaking men who wrote scripture, called compensation salvation, and retribution, dam- nation; but salvation to us moderns has a vague, uncertain meaning, and damnation smells of the sulphurous pit; but if our teeth can no longer ache, nor our limbs be racked with gout or rheumatism, have we by this ending of mortality, escaped? No; else is all this studious argument of our philosopher futile and vain, and the word of Scripture vain also. The spirit of the unrepentant sinner suffers corruption by his wickedness, just as his body suffers corruption, and must in some way be cured. If the alchemy of the earth cannot cleanse' the body, 1 which the scriptures assert, neither will the spirit be cleansed by its changed environment. He must pay the "uttermost farthing"' before he is purified. The evil man is weighted down by his load of debts. For him there is no progress till he pay them. What of the man who has been obedient to the law, when he comes before the bar? Whether God sat at the judgment seat or not would matter little, the Divine is uppermost in this fearless spirit. Let him pass on, and angels' who guard the way shall make obeisance. This man has eternal life abid- el Cor. 12:7-11; Acts 2:3; Isaiah 35:4-7; James 5:14. f\ Tim. 5:24; Alma 34:33-35; 40:22-26. sRev. 22:10, 11; 20:12; I Peter 3:20. ''Doc. and Gov. 88:35, 102; John 5:29. 'Matt. 5:26. THE GOSPEL AND EMERSON 479 ing in him, for he, like his Master, has been obedient. When these two spirits at the great command, shall take their bodies again, the one, a clean-limbed athlete, shall poise himself in his race with the gods, while the other shall, with futile effort drag his heavy feet along the way. The difference between — them now is space progress. This leaden-footed man can never reach his winged brother. Could there be bitterer punishment than this/ that one cannot attain? This is damnation indeed, in comparison with which the fumes of sulphur would be as an Arcadian dream. If it be true, as our reasoning asserts, that these sins of ours engraft themselves into the spirit and persist through the grave, what of that gentle doctrine' of the grace of God and the medi- ation of Christ. With that question we come again to law. If I were fit to hazard an opinion as to the relative value that God places on man's strivings toward him in mortality, I would say that he values obedience more"' highly than any other one thing. Truly, "obedience is better than sacrifice." To the blind who can hear, it is better than sight; to the deaf who can dis- cern, it is better than hearing; to the ignorant, it is better than learning, for we are all blind, and deaf, and ignorant. Into a world of perplexities, with a thousand hands beckoning us, the voice of God says, "listen to me." So, while we, blind and deaf and ignorant, break the law and fall into the ditch, there is held out to those who can obey, a splendid hope. The abstract theories of philosophy, if followed persistently, must sooner or later come to something concrete; they cannot spend themselves in intellectual space; they must, if thev be true, center at last in ultimate good. There is an order and authority somewhere to which they must attach, or they are lies. Until they shall so attach themselves, they are speculative yearnings merely. The ultimate is God, and these threads of thought must run to him eventually or nowhere. How futile to seek to trace these manifestations of will we everywhere see to unorganized and purposeless power. Shall we attempt to conceive that we are floating in an ocean of organless and functionless virtue and principle, or shall we assert that law originates in power, and that this power is embodied and manifested in — Christ our Lord, that he became the" word, the expression of — the Father's will the Executive of the universe. One of old said: "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation." What is that but an authoritative generalization of principle resting in him who came to carry out the will of the Father? The gospel plan sets one law to cure the effects of the /Luke 12:31, 32; Doc. and Cov. 132:19. *Doc. and Cov. 76:112. /John 5:24. »"James 2:18; John 3:36; Eph. 2:8; Matt. 7:21. 480 IMPROVEMENT ERA breaking of another. By disobedience^ to the law of life death came into the world. From death, man could not of himself escape. Then, so far as man's potency was concerned, the grave had effectually closed its jaws on him, and he must lie there. Justice, unmixed with any other element, has had its say, and any protest of man could not avail against the decree; but love in the heart of God asserts itself, and mercy provides ? the way 1 for redemption. Is this a one-sided transaction by which God gives all and man nothing, for the mercy extended? Surely not, for then would justice be outraged, and mercy made a jest. He who through sacrifice wrought out the way of life, has every legal right to impose conditions of clemency. Now comes again the law of obedience which is the medium between justice and mercy. Justice says that all men, having inherited death through Adam, shall live again through Christ. This is the free gift of God to all — to saint and sinner alike; but man, being redeemed from death, is yet to be redeemed from his own sins. Men are as "prone to evil as the sparks to fly upward." "There is none good, no not one," and the souls of many are scarlet with their offenses against truth and law, but by obedience to Christ, the Mediator, all men may be cleansed from sin by the "washing of his word." Man is indebted on a personal account, and must "live by every word r that comes from God." In the presence of authority, one may not safely deal in generalizations. We reason that we may get to the basis of things within the range of man's knowledge. When we get there, God speaks. Back of him 4 no man has ever seen, so we may not argue cause and effect with him; the chief function of man is to obey. But to obey, one must hear, and "how can he hear without a preacher?" to speak for God. Any man who has a message has the right to be heard, that he may prove his authority, if he have any, and there follows a fundamental obligation upon man that he shall listen. "Search the scriptures," it is written, "for they are they which testify of me." There is, then, the obligation upon man that he shall search; and to those to whom shall come no external warning, may come the warning of the conscience within him. "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding," and no man is left entirely in the dark. Having heard the beckoning call to the light, it is man's duty, under the law of obedience, to face that way and follow, to the extent of his understanding; but that the complaint of man may be effectually stopped, God has said, that if any lack wisdom, he may ask him, and will not be denied. Obedience shall place us at the foot of Jacob's ladder, whereby, like the angels, we may ascend "John 1:1-10. "John 5:30. PGen. 3:22-24; I Cor. 15:22. THE GOSPEL AND EMERSON 481 into the heavens. Though we begin very low, if we persevere, we shall ultimately come there. "Add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness," these are steps. If after all these virtues and acquirements, we shall, like the rich young man, say, "what else, Lord?" and he shall repeat again his saying of old, "No man may enter my kingdom but by the baptism' of the water and the spirit," who is there who shall gainsay him? To accept this, that baptism is the acceptable sign and proof of our faith, is the greatest wisdom. Is compensation anything else but payment? If we have blessings today, tomorrow or in the hereafter for some self denial, some service, or some generous act, we are now, by these things that we do, bargaining, for some degree of spiritual" wealth; but were one to tag his actions, day by day, as being of such and such value, they become utterly selfish, and the life has gone out of them. There must be altruism combined with our selfishness to preserve the quality of our acts. There is the scriptures, an appeal to our love of acquirement; the Lord's bles^p promise on the Mount; and the statement of Paul as to the things that he saw "laid 1 up" for those that love the Lord, are ' the things that are to come by the living of the law. In view of the various™ glories depicted, is it not logical that if we live the highest law, we can command the highest compensation? All that he has, he will give to those who serve him. We have the right to the selfish instinct, if selfish we may call it, that virtue and obedience bring honor and glory. It is a mere statement of fact, as that seed bears fruit or that money brings interest.God* does not belittle himself when he demands the honor and glory that come by reason of his supreme merits. Power and glory are inseparably connected with the attributes of holiness. You cannot extinguish such a light, it is the original fire. Self interest takes on a different aspect now, since to do good brings the greatest award. Of this we may certainly be sure: that compensation is unfailing. Whether in soul quality, or in some mansion house with deed from God, it is sure; and if the one, then the other, never fear. Would the Divine architect and builder give a palace to one who could not comfortably dwell therein? Clearly not, for then there would be a plain violation of law; but the man who labors for hire, with a song on his lips and a prayer in his heart, has money coming as well; so is he thrice enriched, he has his song, and prayer, and gold. 'John 3:5. "Matt. 6:19, 20. »I Cor. 2:9. ™I Cor. 15:41; 2 Cor. 12:2; Doc. and Cov. 76:81-119. *Doc. and Cov. 76:108; Matt. 28:18. Pocatello, Idaho.